How about that moon?!?! I’m not normally the most astronomically oriented chump in the bunch, but last night’s lunar eclipse was a sight to behold. My bride and I thoroughly enjoyed our postprandial hammock and eclipse gazing session last night, and I suspect that many of our readers did as well.

If you were one of last night’s super lunar eclipse gazers, you might have taken a few photographs. I did, though with mediocre luck. I should have brought my good camera and tripod. I didn’t….

I’ll return to my/your photographs of last night’s super lunar eclipse in a moment. First let’s firm up this otherwise fluffy post with a look at what took place in the spectacularly clear dome (at least in Essex) last night.

Skywatchers around the globe have been waiting with bated breath for a rare occurrence – a total lunar eclipse during a perigee full Moon, which is also known as a “supermoon.” During a “supermoon,” the Moon is at its closest point to Earth during its orbit. That makes it appear about 14% larger and 30% brighter than it does at its apogee (the furthest point away from Earth.)

Lunar eclipses happen when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, causing its shadow to fall over the Moon’s surface. The refraction of light caused by this make the Moon appear dark and red, so the term “blood moon” is often used to describe an eclipse. (Source: Alex Knapp, Forbes)

Perigee, apogee, supermoon, blood moon… I’m starting to like this astronomy stuff!

That said I feel a little self conscious peppering my post with those cool Scrabble words, so I’ll stick with my more pedestrian epithet: super lunar eclipse. After all, what I’m most interested in is the fascinating photography born of last night’s celestial strangers in the night.

Eve’s Eclipse Series

Eve Ticknor turned her insatiable lens skyward and captured this spectacular series of photographs from her home in Ontario.

I was out taking photos in my backyard in Prescott between 9 and 10:30 tonight, with clouds moving in, unfortunately. I didn’t stay to see anything more. I wonder if anyone took photos over Lake Champlain tonight. ~ Eve Ticknor (aquavisions.me)

I’m hoping that somebody (perhaps even several Essex friends and neighbors) captured some super lunar eclipse photographs over Lake Champlain last night. It’s challenging enough to capture the eclipse in photographs, but capturing the eclipse over Lake Champlain — especially last night when the wind and waves were dancing — adds an extra hurtle. I tried. I failed. My efforts were foiled to capture the eclipsing moon above the water, refracted reflection shimmering in a broad band across the waves. I’m struck by this quotation also shared by Eve.

“We find beauty not in the thing itself, but in the pattern of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” ~ J. Tanazaki (via Eve Ticknor)

So true, and for this reason I had hoped to capture the play of eclipse and watery mirror. I’ll share a few shots of the moon itself, but I hope that others will have been more successful in photographing (or painting?) the eclipse over the lake. Let us know how you made out, and maybe we’ll be able to add a few of your photographs to this post. Until then, here a a few of mine.